Consequences
by FicFan123
Summary: Emma has to deal with the consequences of her actions.
1. Chapter 1

Emma watched as Regina rushed out of the diner, unwilling to watch the reunited Locksley's coo over each other any longer. "Damn it," she breathed, following the former Evil Queen out the door.

She caught up to the brunette half way down the block. "Regina, wait!"

"Miss Swan, I assure you that you do not want to be near me right now!" the mayor said angrily. "Go away!"

"I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry," Emma said.

"And that fixes precisely nothing!" Regina snarled.

"I know. But I just couldn't…"

"Yes, you could have! You choose not to! Once again Charming arrogance has cost me someone I love," she yelled.

"I didn't…"

"I don't care! I don't care what you meant. I don't care what you thought. I don't care that you are sorry. Right now it is taking all my self-control not to fireball you into oblivion! I suggest you don't test that control much further," Regina said icily.

Emma swallowed. Regina's voice was getting colder by the second, and her eyes were taking on that crazed look. More like the Evil Queen she had just seen in the Enchanted Forest.

"Okay – I'll go away. Henry wants to spend some time with you – maybe tomorrow?" Emma asked, feeling only slightly guilty for using their son to calm the other woman.

Regina took a deep breath. "Yes. I'll pick him up in the morning. Will you be staying with your parents now?"

Emma shook her head, relieved when Regina's voice lost its chill, though it was obvious the woman was beyond angry. "No – what with the baby and all, I thought it would be better if Henry and I kept staying at Granny's."

"Where?"

"Granny's."

Regina continued to look at her in confusion.

"Where we have been staying?"

"You mean Walt's?" the brunette said.

"Who's Walt?"

"He was Sleepy? One of your mother's dwarf's? He owns the diner and inn?"

"I know him – but he doesn't own the diner. Granny does! Ruby's grandmother?"

"Miss Lucas does not have a grandmother that I am aware of. No family, actually," Regina.

"Oh come on, old lady? Good with a cross bow?"

Regina shook her head.

"Oh, no," Emma said, suddenly feeling rocks in her stomach. She turned back toward the diner – freezing when she saw the sign. The sign she had been in too big a hurry to see when she had rushed in to find her parents earlier. The sign that read "Walt's".

Emma ran back into the diner, Regina trailing at a more elegant pace behind her. She looked around frantically – finding Ruby cooing over baby Neal at her parent's table.

"Ruby! Where's Granny?"

A sad look feel over Ruby's face. "My Granny?" Emma nodded. "She died years ago. How do you know about her?"

"Did you meet her in the Enchanted Forest, Emma?" Snow asked, smiling. "She was a wonderful old lady. Tough as they came."

"I knew her," Emma said, staring at Ruby. "Oh, God – I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Ruby asked.

Emma didn't answer.

"Tell her, Miss Swan. Tell her what your arrogance cost her," Regina said standing behind Emma.

"Emma? What's going on?" Snow asked. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

Emma shook her head and looked at her friend's confused face.

"Ruby…" Emma couldn't continue.

"Ruby's grandmother was supposed to be alive, wasn't she, Miss Swan? Until you decided to play god with the past," Regina said.

"Emma? Is that true?" Ruby demanded.

"Yes," Emma said softly. "I didn't mean.."

"Granny wasn't supposed to die? She was supposed to be here? With me?" Ruby yelled.

Emma nodded.

"Oh, sweetie," Snow said, reaching out to comfort her friend.

Ruby shrugged her hand off. "What did you do?"

"I… changed the past. I thought it wouldn't hurt anything, but…"

"Wouldn't hurt anything?!" Ruby repeated incredulously.

"Miss Swan was warned quite strongly that any changes to the past could have unforeseen consequences. But of course she thought those rules couldn't possibly apply to her," Regina went on.

"Regina! That's enough," David snapped.

"Really, Charming? Tell me one thing I have said that isn't the complete and absolute truth?" the former mayor challenged.

"Did you change the past on purpose, Emma?" Ruby demanded. "Or was it an accident?"

"I couldn't just let Marion die," Emma said softly.

"You changed the past on purpose. How could you do something so …stupid?" Ruby demanded.

"Hey – that's my daughter you are talking to," Snow interjected.

"Yes – who is responsible for the fact that Granny is gone. You know – the woman that took you in!" Ruby snapped back.

"Ruby I never meant.." Emma started.

"I don't want to hear it. We're done," the young woman said, walking away.

"Red!" Snow called out, but the other woman ignored her. The baby in her arms began to wail.

"I didn't.." Emma said.

"Unforeseen consequences, Miss Swan. It is what happens when you meddle with things you do not understand. I wonder how many other lives have been disrupted because of what you have done?" Regina asked her.

"Let it be, sister," Grumpy said. He had been standing, listening to the conversation along with most of the diner. "What's done is done. Maybe you should go."

"You need to stay out of things that don't concern you, dwarf!" Regina snapped.

"And you need to settle down and stop upsetting the baby. Nobody messes with the little prince while the five dwarves are around."


	2. Chapter 2

"Henry, I'm glad you're here. I made lunch for us," Regina said, smiling as she saw her son come in.

He came up and hugged her tightly. "I love you," he told her, half-embarrassed.

"I love you too, my little prince," she said.

He blushed slightly, then shrugged. "What's for lunch?"

"I made us roast beef sandwiches," she said.

"My favorite!"

"Of course," she said, smiling. "I still can't believe how you have grown."

"I never realized how short you are," he retorted, grinning at her.

"Watch it, buster!" she told him, wagging her finger at him playfully.

"How are you doing, Mom? Really?" Henry asked, suddenly serious.

Regina let the smile leave her face. "I'll be okay, Henry. Maybe not today or tomorrow – but I'll be okay."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yes – and I'm not going to curse the whole town or try to kill anyone."

He snorted. "I know that. You're a hero now."

She smiled, warmed by his trust.

"Mom, Emma that is, she's…"

"I don't want to talk about her, Henry," Regina interrupted him. "I'm not going to go after her, but I don't want anything to do with her. I'm sorry if that hurts you, but I can only go so far."

"Okay. I guess I can understand that. But can I ask you something else?" he asked.

"Of course."

"It's just… well, a lot of people that used to be here aren't any more. Emma and Hook remember from before they changed things. Ruby's grandmother, two of the dwarves, Belle's father, Archie's dog, a teacher at the school, and like 5 kids that we are sure of that used to be in my class at school. Altogether we're up to like twenty people," Henry said hesitantly. "We're not sure if there are people here that weren't before – because Emma didn't know everyone so she can't tell."

"Did they have anything in common?" Regina asked, curious despite herself.

Henry nodded. "Yeah – most of them died because of something called Bliss Fever."

Regina nodded. She remembered the disease – a fever that got its name because its victims fell into a peaceful euphoria before they died. It was a dangerous fever – especially for the elderly and children though it could kill anyone. There was a treatment – but it required magic to make which meant that very few people would have access to it. For most people – they either survived it on their own or they didn't.

"There was an outbreak of the fever right around the time that Miss Swan and the pirate were there," Regina said. "But the disease doesn't exist in Storybrooke. There isn't any way they could have been responsible for the outbreak."

"That's what Grams said, but there are a lot of people that are pretty mad right now," Henry said.

"What do you mean? Who's mad?"

"Well, I guess some people heard what was said in the diner, and they told other people…" Henry said.

"And now everyone in Storybrook knows," Regina finished for him.

"Yeah."

"A lot of people died in that outbreak. There were a lot of parents that lost children," Regina remembered. Even back then, at the peak of her desire for revenge against Snow, she had been stunned at the loss of life. After all – they were her people.

Henry nodded. "Yeah – and now all the people are convinced that it wouldn't have happened if…"

Regina understood. "If the idiot hadn't interfered in the past."

"Mom," Henry said disapprovingly.

"In this case Henry I believe I am quite correct in how I refer to Miss Swan," Regina said. "What she did was beyond idiotic – it was almost suicidally stupid."

Henry glared at her.

Regina stared right back at him. He looked away first.

"But if they didn't cause the outbreak, then why did it change?" the teenager asked.

"Perhaps they did something to spread it – or.. Oh, god. Have they been checked?" Regina asked quickly.

Henry nodded. "Dr. Whale examined Emma, Hook, and…"

"Marion," Regina finished for him, unable to hide the pain the name caused her.

Henry nodded. "They are fine."

"Good. The last thing this town needs is an epidemic. I'll have a word at the hospital to make sure everyone is on the lookout for anyone becoming sick with the fever," the brunette said almost to herself.

"Everyone is trying to remember what happened around that time, figure out what might have changed. What do you remember?" Henry asked.

"It was a long time ago, Henry. Over 30 years – and unlike most people I remember all of them," Regina reminded him gently.

"I know, but do you remember anything?" he persisted.

Regina hesitated. "I was trying to find Snow during that time."

"I know you were after Grams, Mom. It's okay. It's in the past," Henry told her.

She nodded slowly. "I had thought I won, only to learn a little later that it had been a trick," Regina said. Leaving out that by "won" she meant that she thought she had killed her former step-daughter. "I believe right after that I traveled North – following a lead on the women who had escaped ..custody. "

"That would have been Emma," Henry realized.

"I didn't find her, obviously," Regina said wryly. "Didn't stop me from trying, of course. I didn't know I should be looking in the future."

"Because Emma was in the past – you did something different," Henry realized.

Regina nodded. "Yes, and when a queen travels so do many others."

"So people were in different places… could that have done something?" Henry asked.

Regina nodded. "I don't know. It's possible I suppose," she admitted.

"But what…"

"Henry – I don't think you are going to be able to find the answer. There are too many possibilities and no way of narrowing them down. Because of Miss Swan's actions I did something different than before. Because I did something different, other people did things differently. Because they did something differently, even more people did things differently. And so on. And I am sure I am not the only person who had their actions change," Regina told him.

"I suppose you are right," Henry agreed reluctantly.

"I take it that everyone that lost someone to the fever now believes that it wouldn't have happened if the past hadn't been changed?" Regina asked.

Henry nodded. "And neither Hook or Emma know if the fever even happened before."

Regina nodded slowly. "Henry, I want you to stay here with me."

"Mom, I know that you're mad…"

"This has nothing to do with my feelings concerning Miss Swan. If people believe that she caused the death of their loved ones, of their children… It could get ugly. I would prefer you not witness that. Well, witness that again," Regina said awkwardly. "I'm not trying to prevent you from being with Emma. I would simply feel better if you spent your nights here. At least temporarily."

"I do want to come home, Mom. But I can't just abandon Emma. I…I did that last time. To you. I shouldn't have done it then and I'm not going to do it again," Henry told her. "I am sorry you know. For how I acted. I know you love me."

"You didn't abandon me, Henry," the brunette protested.

"Yes, I did. And I hurt you. I know I did," he told her.

"You did what you had to do Henry. I never blamed you for that," she told him, gathering him into her arms.

"I know. But it doesn't make it right. I just don't want to do it again," he told her, hugging her tight.

"How about I talk with Miss Swan? Or we can talk to her together? Make sure she knows you staying here has nothing to do with your feelings for her?" Regina countered.

"That would be okay, I think. Thanks, Mom," Henry said.

"Anything for you, my little prince."


End file.
